E—No. 1

ACTS AND DECISIONS OF THE consent to the Pakehas who have settled upon the place being expelled. It will be arranged by me. I will search for the parties who did not see the place sold. Mr. McLean, who has come here as a Protector for you, will write down the names of those who have not received any payment, and of the persons who did not witness the selling of the place ; when that is done I will come back again to settle this dispute; and if you will not consent to the Pakehas remaining, I will give them some other part. You have heard that there are many chiefs who desire to sell their land to the Pakeha; but, do not you molest the Pakehas who are residing upon your lands. If you remain quiet I shall be pleased with you, and will tell the Pakehas to keep quiet. Do to others as you would have others do to you. If we abide by this, we shall iive in peace." When the Governor had ended, one of the Maoris arose, some of his talk was good and some was bad ; when he had finished, Te Waka arose, all his talk was good; he concluded, and Te Pakaru, one of the Waikato Chiefs stood up. His talk was good, all good. Mr. Whiteley then stood up, and spoke his good words. Enough, it was ended, and the men departed. Here also is some more of what was said to the men of that part of Taranaki. Listen, Men of Taranaki"residing in other places, and among other tribes. This is the Governor's speech to you respecting your lands at Taranaki; he says, he will not allow your lands to be taken away unjustly either by Europeans or Natives. The Ngatiawa did not behave rightly. When the Europeans went to Taranaki to buy land, they found only a few people there, consequently they thought that these men were the only proprietors of the land, they did not know that the greater number were absent. The few who were living there sold all the land of those who were absent, and when the absentees arrived they found Europeans settled on their lands, which has caused great annoyance both to Europeans and Natives, On this account the Governor says it is not a good purchase, and that he will not agree to the parts thus illegally sold. Now this is the Governor's opinion, that all the Natives of Taranaki should go to their teachers, or to the Protector of the District who lives among them, and state the names of their places, and the Protector will write down the names of the owners and their estate, whether belonging to man, or woman, or child. And if such owner agrees to sell his place on reasonable terms it will be purchased, and he will receive payment. Men of Taranaki, make haste and go to your Protectors. Men of Taranaki who reside on the spot, you have seen the Governor and you have heard his ©pinion. His plan is a good one, one that you must all accede to. He says that some of the land was not fairly purchased; but some of you are to blame; that is, those of you who were here and sold the land to the Europeans. You sold it, and named the boundaries, but you did not point out what was yours only. You did not think of your friends or relations who were absent, but included their estates as well. By which means you misled the Europeans; they thought you were the only proprietors; they imagined also that you sold both along the coast and inland. Mr. McLean has been left by the Governor as a Protector for you; he will arrange about your lands. Be kind to him, and attentive to what he says; and point out your respective possessions correctly. Do not quarrel; do not say " all this is mine, all that belongs to me," —but mark it out quietly, and do not encroach on any other person's possession, but let every man point out his own. Do you ask why we are thus to take down the names of your places ? It is to prevent future mistakes. You have heard that no land will be taken unjustly. If you sell it to the Europeans, well; but you must be careful each to sell his own property, and then he will receive the payment himself. You must not however form erroneous opinions respecting the payment. What is it that makes land valuable? It is labour. Without the labour what is the worth of land? It is worthless; now, if your lands were in a state of cultivation when you sold them, or if you were to work constantly on the land when sold, then you might expect a large payment. But the Europeans do all this, they work and cultivate their lands. All that you have to do is merely to part with your right to it, therefore you must not expect a large payment. It is different when Europeans deal with Europeans, then the payment is great, but you must not suppose that it is all for the land; in addition to the price of the land it is for bringing out labourers, and tools, and seeds, and cattle, in ships; for making roads, and bridges, and surveys, and many other things; the payment for the land only is very small. If you had anything to do with these works which makes land useful, you might ask a high price; but as I said before, you have nothing to do but to sell it, and therefore cannot expect a large payment. Leave it entirely with the Governor, and he will agree upon the best plan, and give you what is right and just. You talk about turning off the Europeans who are occupying land not properly sold; very well, they can easily be removed. There is plenty of land elsewhere for them, but mind you do not wrong yourselves. If they remove and buy land of other Chiefs, you will sink into insignificance and others become exalted. Why do you wish to remove them? Is it for want of land? No, there is enough for you and them. You had better live together in peace, selling the portions you do not want to the Europeans. It is from having Europeans among you that you have been so much improved, and if the Europeans were to go you would fall back into your former state of poverty. If the English were to leave this Island the French would very soon take it, and their proceedings are very bad. Look at what they have done at Tahiti, they have taken their lands for nothing and killed hundreds of the inhabitants, and if the English were to leave you, the French would serve you the same. But it is different with the English, our thoughts are good, and your lands will be equitably bought. The Governor is kind to you and is doing all he can for your good. Remember the words of God in the 17th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, "And hath made of one blood all nations of'men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations." Now when man was created,

governors' decisions.

Ga ernor Fitzroy's Visit. Official Report.